Magellan
Hour Of Restoration

Magellan was the progressive metal project of two Californian brothers with the last name Gardner. Of the two, the more prominent is Trent, composer of all the music and lyrics, as well as singer and keyboardist, with an additional and whimsical instrument in his expressive repertoire: the trombone. Brother Wayne limited himself to the role of guitarist, sporadically playing the bass as well, but for him, it’s over... alas, he took his life a short time ago.

Talented musicians appreciated by industry insiders, entirely devoid of any aggressive, shady, or womanizing metal look, appearing instead ordinarily chubby and bald somewhat in the style of certain pasta-loving reggae folks from Salentino. The two Gardners have never managed to organically connect with success and album sales; also because their progressive is beautifully verbose and mega-structured without being truly virtuosic, thus attracting many simple souls who are enamored with circus acts performed by running up and down the keyboards of instruments.

The highlight of this debut work by Magellan (we're in 1991) should be the initial "Magna Charta", over fourteen intense minutes very much in the Kansas style, aimed at describing the saga of this famous document encountered at least momentarily by everyone in high school, and for the record the first with some semblance of constitutionality since the Athenian civilization: a tightening against feudal abuses imposed, if I recall correctly, by the English nobles on their King John Lackland, towards the end of the twelfth century.

Actually, there’s better throughout the eight tracks that make up this album, which ends up becoming more enjoyable and interesting in the more concise and therefore more focused episodes. My favorite track, for instance, is precisely at the closing with the minute and twenty-five seconds of "Turning Point", an oblique and delightful melody portrayed by Gardner's beautiful voice, resting over a suggestive synthesizer carpet.

Another well-executed gem, this one lasting a good two minutes and something, is titled "Just One Bridge" and indeed acts as a bridge between two other more robust and multifaceted tracks. This time Trent's singing intertwines over an arpeggio by his brother’s guitar, with a very successful and harmonic sound.

The other ample suite "Union Jack" (the album, as implied, is conceptual, and deals with the medieval affairs of the British nation) is a new tour de force among synthesizer fanfares, tempo changes, laborious text extensions, precisely executed rhythmic breaks if only because everything is held together by the electronic drum beats... unfortunately a fundamentally poor choice due to the unnaturalness of its contribution especially in the longer and faster rolls, completely mechanical and devoid of swing and vivacity. Things will improve in the following albums, with flesh-and-blood drummers in action (here the two brothers are only assisted by bassist Hal Imbrie), yet without ever encountering great inspiration.